Higher Education Leadership

Team Building as a Resource for Company Success

A company is only as successful as their employees. As company leaders and managers, encouraging team building and implementing an environment that fosters individuals to excel and maximize production is essential to a company’s achievement. By utilizing different team building strategies and creating a precedent for open communication, companies are able to bring employees together to effectively accomplish business goals and objectives.

Team Building: Why?

Team building can accomplish many things. The process can reveal strengths, weaknesses, encourage communication and minimize unhealthy competition. Through the use of a variety of unifying techniques, businesses can bring employees together, and in the process, identify possible sources of tension between the team members which can hamper the objectives of a company. By identifying any potential strains, managers and leaders can effectively establish objectives and values of the company in order to maximize the potential of each individual that is productively involved in the process.

These exercises serve many purposes when attempting to create a successful work environment by setting communication expectations and determining effective ways to combat problems in the workforce.

Enhancing Communication

Getting to know one another is essential in establishing an effective work environment. Through the process of understanding one another’s work habits, personalities and ambitions, companies can come to adopt an attitude of acceptance and tolerance for what their coworkers have to offer. Bringing together all levels of employees allows business leaders to balance their teams and identify different ways to utilize strengths and succeed as a whole. Leaders can begin to evaluate the talent around them and use this information to match expertise to unique situations that may arise.

Through open communication company leaders can set clear goals and expectations to maintain a sense of camaraderie in an office environment and boost morale. Encouraging employees to ask questions about what is important to the overall company mission as well as collaborating with colleagues creates an environment where others can help to complement their coworker’s ideas and ambitions. To effectively work together, teams need to understand each other and their strategies for accomplishing a common goal.

Problem Solving Exercises

Problem solving skills are essential to the success of a workplace. New and unique challenges will arise each day, and by effectively responding to these issues the process of coming up with solutions will be a much smoother one. Through the use of team building activities that encourage effective problem solving, employees are forced to work together to come up with unique solutions, much like situations faced in a business environment.

These exercises also provide management the opportunity to determine the roles that employees will likely take when addressing possible issues. Some will take a leadership role, while some will likely let others take control of the situation. Team building and problem solving activities can help identify the strengths, weaknesses and personalities of team members while developing a strong company culture.

The ability to create a positive work environment that harbors creativity and allows individuals to utilize their strengths and weaknesses can be done through effective team building techniques. Utilizing team building and problem solving to enhance a company’s success also allows employees to feel a sense of involvement and encourages collaboration and empowerment. The responsibility to implement such activities falls on business leaders. For individuals ready to advance their careers and pursue a master’s degree in leadership, Lewis' resource and support center is here to assist you.